Health and Nutrition Workshop

Health and Nutrition Workshop Report by Neha Mustafi

Women's Study Centre, Jesus and Mary College conducted a workshop for the first-year members of the society on “Women’s Health and Nutrition” in collaboration with TheaCare, a women’s health companion, working at the intersection of “Fem- tech” (technology for women’s health) and scientific and medical research about women’s health. The workshop was conducted by Swarnima Bhattacharya- Founder Thea Care and the curator the Femme Con- India's first women’s health festival.
Swarnima Bhattacharya opened the workshop by mentioning a few facts and figures which reflected the condition of gender- specialized research in the field of medicine and science.
“It was only as late as 2003 that the FDA(Food and Drug Administration) made it mandatory for women to be included in medical research and it was only in 1990 that the National Institute of Health, the main body for medical health research made it mandatory for gender to be a factor for medical health research.”
“1 in 12 women across the world and 1 in 4 women in India have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) or are likely to get it and 1 in 7 women have Endometriosis, which is even more chronic”
When asked about the two diseases, only a handful of students knew about Endometriosis, while comparatively more students knew about PCOS or PCOD. Swarnima attributed this lack of awareness to the absence of adequate research and the idea that women’s health is always seen from a management perspective. She quoted Doctor Chris Bobel, who said, “Menstruation is about managing the body, it’s not about dealing with your menstruation”. Swarnima pointed out the fact that all our menstruation- related interventions are very product based- menstrual cups, sanitary napkins, but we never really talk about what exactly is going on.
The perception of PMS (Pre- Menstrual Syndrome) as a myth was now introduced by her. She provided the students with the statement- “PMS is a misunderstood myth which is created by big Pharma and patriarchy to control women and paint them as hormonal” and invited opinions and thoughts on the same. The opinion appeared to be equally divided with almost an equal number of girls agreeing with the idea that PMS is a myth as the number of girls disagreeing with the same. Still, a student pointed out that the phrase “misunderstood myth” itself is very ambiguous and added that she understands that PMS is not a myth but is just a construct to portray women as emotional and is a very genuine biological concept.
Swarnima clarified that PMS is not a myth and that a research in 1990 proved that it has hormonal and not mental basis. One may feel anxious, depressed or restless a few days before their period, but these issues only act as a symptom and not the cause of PMS. Hence, according to Swarnima, “unless you face these issues generally in a long- term pattern, approaching a therapist for mental stress during PMS is a wrong form of intervention, the right intervention is to consult an endocrinologist, who would be more qualified to test your hormones and determine if your PMS symptoms are abnormal in any way and why.
Even though PMS is not a myth, its medicalization is a problem. Whether or not PMS qualifies as a disease is unknown. The reason why some people might face more severe PMS symptoms than others is that they might be genetically sensitive to the hormonal changes that usually take place before the period. People who usually face abnormal PMS symptoms face the risk of diseases like PCOS/ PCOD or Endometriosis. In such a scenario it becomes important to understand what exactly can “severe” or “abnormal” be defined as. Since no two periods like no two fingerprints can ever be the same, the best way to track and ascertain any deviations from your ‘normal’ is to journal your periods. What may be normal for one may not be normal for someone else, at the same time the normal for one person too might change over some time.. The way you menstruate at the age of 21 is going to be very different from the way you menstruate at 35. A Journal will help figure out the possible reasons for any changes in your period like- food, sexual activity, stress, water as well as the environment.
Swarnima then moved on to ask the girls if they thought that periods were just linked to their reproductive health. About 40% of the girls thought that their periods were just an indicator of their reproductive health. To this Swarnima responded by saying that the hormones produced for menstruation play a much larger role than just reproduction. According to her, “we don’t look at the menstrual cycle in a holistic manner”. The menstrual cycle is related to digestive health, mental health and recent studies have proved that it also affects the heart. More women are dying because of cardiovascular diseases and it has been found that most of these women are post- menopausal. The reason why this is happening is that, after menopause, the estrogen levels fall completely which lead to possible heart complications, she also pointed out that the lack of research has restricted the discovery of causes and effects of such a relation. She mentioned that kidney stones too are linked to the estrogen and progesterone hormones. She concluded this section by saying that since the hormones are present in the blood stream and since the blood flows to all the parts of the body, the hormones as well as our periods which are an indicator of the status of these hormones, affect the entire body.
The conversation now moved towards PCOS. Swarnima asked if the students felt that PCOS is a menstrual disorder. One student felt that the disorder was linked to a lifestyle more than anything else, while others felt that PCOS was not linked to menstruation per se but to the uterus, ovaries, even pancreas and one student was unsure but she had heard that PCOS was linked to an imbalance in the hormones. According to Swarnima, PCOS is linked to neither of these causes, she said- “whatever is happening in the ovaries and uterus is more a symptom than a cause (of PCOS)”. She mentioned that recent research links PCOS to digestive health and that the bad bacteria in the gut is a major cause of PCOS. Recent research has linked insulin resistance to PCOS which proves why it becomes difficult for someone suffering from PCOS to lose weight. She mentioned that PCOS has been called the “younger sister of diabetes” in medical and scientific circles because of the role of Insulin.
Swarnima concluded the workshop by opening the floor for questions. One student asked if the operations of TheaCare are trans- inclusive. To this Swarnima responded by saying that yes, their operations are trans- inclusive, particularly because a lot of people in the process of transitioning suffer from diseases like PCOS. She added that TheaCare also works to include disabled and old people in the discourse.
Another student asked if it is okay to have pain- killers for cramps. She mentioned that she finds it extremely difficult to fall asleep without her medication on the first day of her period. Swarnima advised the student to try heat patches which work as portable hot- water bags and are available at almost all the chemist shops. She also pointed out that since the student was in the first year, the severe cramps could be a result of the sudden increase in the level of exposure to environmental toxins which usually happens when students transition from school to college.
Lastly, a student asked to what extent is cervical cancer related to sexual activity, to which Swarnima clarified that “a very big myth is that women who are sexually active are more likely to get cervical cancer, a big myth, not true at all”. She explained that the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) virus which is transmitted sexually is only one of the causes that cause cervical cancer. It is a very small subset of all the factors that may cause cancer, but it is the only known factor. It becomes important to note that the HPV virus is rather easy to contract, but it does not always lead to cancer. However, even if the virus does not always cause cancer it becomes important to get vaccinated given its easy contraction. The vaccines should ideally be taken when one becomes or is about to be sexually active and is available at reasonable rates at almost all the hospitals.
Swarnima closed the workshop by saying that we need to “start looking at our menstrual health as not just five days that have to be managed- that is one of the biggest problems and biggest sexism that has happened in the scientific and medical community”.